


The Past's Return

by CrazyNekoChan



Series: Soudam Week Summer 2020 [3]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Established Relationship, Homophobic Slurs Mentioned, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Island Mode (Dangan Ronpa), M/M, Neo World Program (Dangan Ronpa), Schoolboy Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24146866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyNekoChan/pseuds/CrazyNekoChan
Summary: When trying out some weird spell that his boyfriend Gundham found, Kazuichi didn't expect that him being able to get a sight of the past would end up being this literal when he's suddenly standing in front of himself from years past.Day 3 of theSoudam WeekPrompt: Heroes/Villains |Time Travel| First Times
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Soda Kazuichi/Tanaka Gundham
Series: Soudam Week Summer 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1742218
Comments: 3
Kudos: 142





	The Past's Return

**Author's Note:**

> Worth mentioning for this fic: I personally headcanon that Kazuichi was a closet gay until he came to HPA where he got the courage to out himself, after his very awful attempts of proving to everyone just how “straight” he is, due to his former bullies also regularly making his life hell by throwing homophobic slurs at him for no reason on top of all the other supposed reasons and excuses they came up with to bully him

Just like every day the weather was absolutely perfect on Jabberwock Island. The sun was shining brightly and the temperature was just right, not too hot nor too cold. It was the kind of weather a person could only dream of when thinking of white beaches and palm trees on a tropical island like this, yet it was what Kazuichi and his friends were experiencing all the time. Ever since they came to Jabberwock Island ages ago there wasn't a single day that wasn't great and full out enjoyable. It even excused all of the weird things that tended to happen ever so often. One of them being their teacher, who was a weird talking rabbit in a frilly dress who, according to Hajime and Nagito at least, can turn a chicken into a cow. Kazuichi wasn't sure how much he was able to believe this story, however he had seen weirder things ever since coming here. Including the fake palm tree that gave out all kinds of random gifts, from machine parts, to coffee, to clothing and also a specific toy Kazuichi rather not think about again - though it still baffled him how Hajime had no idea what it was.

After finishing gathering materials for Usami for the day, Kazuichi was sitting outside of the hotel's main building and thinking about what he could do during his free time today. Just as he considered to see if any of his friends could hang out, he heard footsteps approach and upon turning towards the sound, he saw his boyfriend Gundham walk up to him.

“Oh, hey Gundham. I was just thinking about ya.” Kazuichi waved with a grin, while Gundham reached him and the couple greeted each other with a kiss. “Did you finish for today?”

“Yes, I have just finished my quest of gathering the requested materials from the highest mountain tops.” Gundham replied to him, “Did you have success on your own quest, my Dark Consort?”

“Yeah.” Kazuichi replied with a mildly tense smile, “Hinata, Komaeda and I did get everything we needed in record time thanks to Komaeda, but he then ended up falling and hitting his head, knocking him out for a bit, so we had to carry him to Tsumiki into the hospital. But he's fine again.” However that didn't stop Hinata from fussing over the luckster. Though then again, things like this happened so often with Komaeda that it wasn't surprising that one would start getting worried.

“Anyway, got anything planned now?” Kazuichi then changed the topic, since he was still a bit bored from just sitting around and looking at the blue sky above, and the prospect of hanging out with his boyfriend always sounded very inviting.

“I do not.” Gundham shook his head at the question, “Do you have any kind of activities in mind?”

“Actually, not really.” Kazuichi didn't think that far ahead yet, “Maybe we could take a walk or something until we find something do to? Or is there anything that you wanna do?” There might be quite a lot to do when living on a tropical island, however after some time even things like enjoying the beach got a tiny bit repetitive.

For a moment Gundham thought about it, until he replied, “A walk does sound pleasant.” he smiled at him, “Then, shall we depart?”

Smiling in return, Kazuichi got up from his seat. “Sure!” Taking Gundham's hand into his own and enjoying the faint blush he saw forming on his boyfriend's cheeks, the couple then began walking along the many small islands.

Since they didn't have any specific destination they simply walked around wherever their feet happened to take them, as they chatted about their day. Ever so often they happened to pass some of their other classmates as they also followed their day during the daily free time, doing whatever came to mind.

However while the couple walked along the park of the central island, Gundham suddenly stopped when one of his hamsters poked his head out from the breeder's scarf and tried to gain his owner's attention.

“What is it, Invading Black Dragon Cham-P?” Gundham asked his pet hamster and let him climb onto his hand, as Kazuichi watched. It never failed to amaze him how the Ultimate Breeder managed to train all of his animals like this. Cham-P was looking around and seemed to sniff the air, until he climbed down his owner's body onto the ground, before yet again sniffing for a moment and then finally scurried towards the statue next to them from where he retrieved a coin.

“Hey, it's one of these coins for the gashapon machine.” Kazuichi noted while Gundham picked up his hamster together with the coin. These coins were hidden all over the island and as everything within the supermarket was completely free, the only use they had were for the fake palm tree to buy the random prizes. It also wasn't like these coins seemed to be any real currency either, so changing them into yen when they went home was also a bit out of the question. “Wanna go and use it?” It wasn't like they had anything else to do and maybe they could get something to use to pass the time out of the machine.

“It might be a wise decision.” Gundham nodded as he eyed the coin, before slipping it into his pocket for the time being.

With something to hopefully do now, the couple then changed their course and went towards the beach on the first island where the gashapon machine was located.

The palm tree the machine was supposed to represent looked as fake as it could and it was obvious that it was plastic from a mile away. But then again Kazuichi guessed that whoever build it tried to make it somewhat fitting for the whole tropical island aesthetic and it looked better than just having a simple box.

Gundham took the coin out of his pocket again and after inserting it into the slot, turned the crank to activate the machine. Kazuichi was already curious what might come out, since it could be absolutely everything from what the island residents have gathered until now. With a clicking sound the machine then unlocked the hatch and Gundham pulled out a book with a fancy looking cover.

While Kazuichi was a bit confused what this book was, since it had no title or anything aside from some weird picture of a highly decorated circle in the middle of the front cover, Gundham turned excited within an instant of opening it.

“What is it?” Kazuichi asked as he looked into the book, which showed even more pictures of symbols, which he thought that he saw somewhere before? He wasn't really sure.

“It is an artefact which holds many of the dark arts which I practice.” Gundham stated with high excitement as he went through the pages to look at them, being already emerged into the book.

So it was something occult. No wonder that Kazuichi was sure that he had seen some of these symbols somewhere before, at least similar ones, since Gundham's cottage was coated with just as much occult stuff as things for his animals.

While Gundham was looking through the book and reading it with almost childlike enthusiasm, as if everything around him stopped existing, he suddenly stopped when he realised that he was still hanging out with his boyfriend. “I am sorry my paramour. I seem to have been temporarily distracted by this artefact.” he excused himself as he closed the book, “Let us continue our walk.”

It was plain as day that it was itching in Gundham's fingers to look at his new book and probably try out some of the stuff inside. So Kazuichi sighed with a smile, “If ya want we can try out what's in the book. No need to deny yourself because of me.” While Kazuichi himself might not care about the occult, and was honestly a bit frightened of it, he loved it to see his boyfriend with such thrill to do something he loved, so he for sure wasn't going to stop him. Also no matter how scary the occult was, Gundham being happy was still way too cute to pass up.

“Do you mean it?” Gundham asked and could only just suppress his excitement to not sound too eager. Though Kazuichi was able to catch on. “I do know that you do not care much for the dark arts, so I do not wish to bore you.”

“Don't worry.” Kazuichi waved him off, “Maybe I can even help, if ya want?”

The way Gundham's eyes lit up at the suggestions was to die for. Happily he took his boyfriend's hand into his own. “It would be my honour if you would join me.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let's start.” Kazuichi couldn't help but get infected with Gundham's enthusiasm and as such the two took at look at the book to see what they could try out.

After a bit of flipping through pages and looking at all the different spells, Gundham then found one called 'The Past's Return', which was supposedly simple to do since they only had to draw the depicted circle onto the floor and then chant something. Kazuichi himself had to be honest that he didn't believe for a moment that anything would happen from it. Or better he hoped it, since even if it was only some little spell to give someone a sight of the past, whatever that meant, he didn't want to curse himself or something. But Gundham liked this stuff and he wanted to engage with his boyfriend's interest just as much as Gundham always engaged with Kazuichi's interests and listened to him ramble about vehicles and engines for hours.

The couple decided to use the beach for the drawing, since the tide was currently low and the sand was still wet so that they could draw the spell circle onto it with a stick, without the circle being easily destroyed by the mild wind.

Gundham did most of the drawing, since he had more experience with drawing all these symbols from doing them so often over the years of following his hobby. Kazuichi mainly watched and compared if the drawing looked like the picture depicted in the book, and after a tiny bit of adjusting they then finished the first part. Now all that was left was the chanting. They had to repeat the chant five times together while standing at each side of the spell circle, so after remembering the chant they then each took their spot and under Gundham's instructions began saying the chant. First once, then twice, then trice, then a fourth and finally a fifth time. However just as Kazuichi said the last syllable of the final chant he suddenly saw something flashing for the tiniest moment. Something greenish in the sky. But it was so short and so seemingly unreal that he was sure that he must have been imagining it. Because there was no way that he saw what seemed to be green numbers within the suddenly green world, within not even a blink of an eye. Now he saw nothing more than the blue skies, the endless ocean and the white beach on which he was standing with his boyfriend who was trying to figure out if something has happened. It must have been nothing more than his imagination, either from paranoia like him seeing shadows in the dark after watching a scary movie, or he was simply out in the sun for too long and his eyes were starting to see things that weren't there. He was out since the early morning after all.

“I do not sense any differences within this realm and I also do not possess any knew knowledge.” Gundham stated with mild disappointment in his voice about nothing happening. He then looked at Kazuichi, “What about you my paramour?”

“Huh, what?” Kazuichi's mind took a moment to catch up, “Oh, no, nothing seemed to have changed as far as I can tell.” Everything looked the same and everything felt the same, and he also didn't suddenly know things he didn't know before. At least not as far as he could say.

“Is everything alright, Tamer of Automations?” Gundham suddenly asked him, as he eyed him after the other's delayed reaction.

“I'm fine, don't worry.” Kazuichi waved him off, “Though I guess I could use a drink.” He must be starting to get dehydrated considering that he had been seeing things.

However Gundham's eyes filled with worry, “I am deeply sorry my paramour. I have not noticed that you have been suffering under the sun's powerful wrath.” He quickly went to Kazuichi to fuss over him, making Kazuichi slow him down.

“Don't worry, I'm not feeling faint or anything.” It was sweet that Gundham showed such concern for him, but he was actually feeling fine. “Let's just go to the hotel and grab something to drink. It's soon time for dinner anyway.” Usually Teruteru was preparing their dinner at this time so that all the students could eat together like Byakuya always insisted on.

This seemed to do the trick as Gundham calmed down again, “If you are sure, then let us make our way back towards the realm in which we can rest.” though he did stay close to his boyfriend as they walked towards the hotel building.

The couple just passed the gate leading towards the hotel area, when they suddenly heard a high pitch and loud scream. “There's a dead body!”

Instantly Kazuichi and Gundham began running towards the voice, just like everyone else within earshot did, until they saw Mioda standing at the many cottages right next to another person who was lying on the floor. The first to arrive was Togami in a remarkable speed for someone with his physic, and he quickly checked the person lying on the floor. “He's alive.” he stated to everyone's relieve, making everyone slow down again. Kazuichi felt as if his heart had dropped, but now he wondered just why the heck a dead person would be here anyway? What was Mioda even thinking?

The only person who kept her quick pace was Tsumiki as she rushed to the collapsed person. Quickly she went into position and with the help of Togami checked upon the person and just as they tried to move the person into the stable lateral position, the person moved and seemed to slowly come to again. So instead they helped him sit himself up, however the moment they did this and everyone could see the person's face, all of the present students gasped or looked at him with shock.

“W-What?!” Tsumiki gasped, “Souda?”

The young man, more like teen, who they found looked exactly like Kazuichi. Only that Kazuichi was standing only a bit to the side with the rest of his classmates, who were all looking between him and the kid.

“Y-Yeah?” the boy asked with a slightly dazed voice, which also sounded just like Kazuichi's own voice, as he rubbed his head and looked at Tsumiki with confusion, “Who are you and how do ya know my name?”

Tsumiki was stunned into silence and she only gave a frightened squeak in return to the boy's question. Togami however tried to keep his cool somewhat. “What is going on here?” he looked at Kazuichi, “Who is this kid and why does he look like you?” he suddenly asked, as if Kazuichi would know what the heck was going on here.

Seeing that the man helping him was looking at someone, the kid then also turned his attention to the side and upon seeing Kazuichi his eyes widened and he shrieked with shock. “What the hell?!”

Kazuichi stared at the kid, who in return stared back, and he couldn't believe his eyes. He must really be dehydrated or something, since he was seeing things that couldn't be true. It was as if he was looking into a mirror. Only that the mirror image was of him in his middle school years, since the other person had short black hair, unlike Kazuichi's currently longer and pink dyed hair, and he was wearing glasses in front of his brown eyes instead of pink contacts, which was the same glasses that Kazuichi currently still owned from his middle school days. He was also slightly shorter than Kazuichi was and his face was a tiny bit more youthful, however he looked exactly like him in every way.

“What the fuck is going on?!” Kazuichi asked in shock at whatever it was that he was seeing. He felt like freaking out, so he pointed at the kid who looked exactly like him from a few years ago, “Who the heck are you?!”

The kid seemed to be freaking out just as much and looked frightened of all the young adults around him. “I-I'm Kazuichi Souda.” the kid then replied, much to everyone's shock and confusion.

However Kazuichi felt like loosing it, because this had to be some joke or weird dream. “What? I'm Kazuichi Souda, the Ultimate Mechanic!” There was only one of him. So who or what the hell was this kid who looked and sounded exactly like him and even seemed to share his name?

Everyone was talking at the same time, while Kazuichi was feeling like he was loosing his mind and the kid seemed to be freaking out just as much. In that moment a voice cut through the chaos, “Excuse me.” making everyone turn and see that Nanami turned up together with Usami “I thought that maybe Usami might be able to help, so I fetched her.”

“Hey rabbit, what the hell is going on?!” Kazuichi demanded to know as he pointed at his younger clone or whatever the kid was, “Who is this person and why is he here?!”

“Oh my!” Usami quickly waddled towards the kid who seemed to be close to tears and flinched when the plush like rabbit walked up to him. “I am Magical Girl Usami, the teacher of all the students you see here. Will you tell me who you are?”

After a little delay due to his fright of everything around him, the kid then repeated himself, “I'm Kazuichi Souda...”

“I was fearing as much.” Usami was highly troubled, before she regarded everyone, “It seems that for some reason Kazuichi's past self ended up on our island with us.”

“What?!” Kazuichi shrieked, “Are you telling me this kid is literally me from the past? How the hell is that possible?!” How can a younger version of himself exist?!

“Well.. I can't explain how this happened.” Usami was fidgeting on the spot now, before fully avoiding the question, “But what is important now is that we have to take care of him until we can send him home again.”

“And how are we supposed to do this?” Koizumi asked what everyone was wondering.

“Ehm, I'm not sure...” Usami let her ears fall, before looking back at the younger Kazuichi, “How did you get here?”

Being talked at made the young teen flinch again, however he still answered with an unsure voice. “I-I don't know... I was on my way to my family's bike workshop and suddenly I got super dizzy and I think I blacked out, before waking up here...” His eyes then widened, “Ah, my dad's going to kill me if I don't help out at the workshop. We even am I?”

“You are on Jabberwock Island...” Usami mumbled out, but then tried to look encouraging for the frightened child, “But don't worry, you won't get into trouble, I can promise you that.”

Sadly this didn't calm the kid and if he really was Kazuichi from the past, then he could understand why something like this didn't help. His...or their... father wasn't exactly the most reasonable of people and didn't like tardiness when it's about work. Usually such things ended at least with a slap to the head, if not with more.

While Usami tried her best to calm the kid down, Gundham carefully tapped Kazuichi on his shoulder to gain his attention, “My paramour... do you maybe believe that the spell that we have preformed together might have summoned your version of the past times?”

“Wait, you could be right.” Due to the shock Kazuichi didn't even think about the fact that he and Gundham had done this weird spell together, and frankly he hadn't even believed that magic worked. However it was the only explanation that made sense right now. That or he was having a very weird, lucid dream and wasn't waking up.

Having overheard Gundham, Usami walked up towards the couple, “You did a spell? What spell?”

Grabbing into his coat pocket, Gundham retrieved the the book he and Kazuichi used and showed it to the rabbit, with the page containing the spell opened. “The Tamer of Automations and I have practised one of the dark arts depicted in this artefact, which was to show us our past. However I have never imagined it to have this kind of result.” he explained as the looked at the young teen.

“Oh my goodness, where did you get this?” Usami shrieked and quickly took the book as if it were dangerous in the hands of the students.

“We got it from the gashapon machine at the beach.” Kazuichi explained to her, while his mind was still trying to puzzle together all the informations.

This made Usami look angry – at least as angry as a plush toy can look – as she mildly cursed at the air, “This blasted machine again. No wonder that there was an error!” Instantly she looked back at Gundham and also the rest of the students, “I will need to take this book until I can find out how to send the younger Kazuichi back, so please everyone look after him for the time being.” Without waiting for any reply, the small rabbit quickly run off as fast as her tiny legs could move.

It was now silent in the group and Kazuichi still felt like fainting or screaming, or doing both at the same time.

It was Koizumi who then broke the silence. “So, what are we going to do with him now?” she asked into the round and gestured towards the younger Kazuichi.

“I think Souda should look after him.” Komaeda suggested with a carefree smile as if nothing was wrong with two version of the same person existing at the same time. “They are the same person after all.”

“What?” was all that Kazuichi managed to say to this, before Togami nodded to the idea.

“Komaeda does have a point. We also do not have any free cottages for him to stay at, so it makes the most sense to have him stay with Souda.” Togami said in thought, before taking on his typical authoritarian tone, “Then I am going to decide that Souda will take care of his younger self until he's adjusted to being on this island with us. Also to make things easier I suggest that we should call our Souda with his last name like usual, while addressing the other one as Kazuichi, since he is younger than we all are.”

Without giving Kazuichi any chance to say anything, not that he knew what to say anyway, it was decided and so he was now babysitting himself.

***

After Tsumiki finished checking if the younger Kazuichi hasn't hurt himself after fainting and declaring him healthy, Teruteru turned up to fetch everyone for dinner, where the group then explained everything to him and inside of the hotel's dining room, to everyone else who had been missing as well.

“So you're Kazuichi?” Fuyuhiko asked the young teen as he was eating, “Just younger?”

Both Kazuichis were sitting at the same table, together with Gundham. The younger one then nodded shyly, “Yes, I'm Kazuichi and I'm 14 years old.” he bowed politely to the older student from a sitting position, “I'm currently in middle school.”

“Kya, Ibuki thinks that little Kazuichi is like hyper cute.” Mioda suddenly interjected with a squeal, “He has like the cutest nerd aesthetic going on.” The compliment made the younger teen blush and bashfully thank the older woman, making her squeal even more. At least until Saionji sneered.

“As if he doesn't look like a huge nerd when older.”

Luckily Koizumi was as always quick to warn her girlfriend for this kind of behaviour. “Hiyoko, this isn't nice to say. You can't just go and bully others, so apologize to them.” With this Saionji instantly turned pouty, but did apologize for what she said like instructed, which the younger Kazuichi thankfully accepted, making his older version feel odd at the reminder how easily he used to be persuaded by cheep excuses and fake apologies...

Sonia, who also only now found out about what had happened then commented. “While I do believe that Tanaka managed to summon Souda's past self with his powers, it is hard to believe that Souda used to be so polite and sweet. Unlike now...” At the last part her face scrunched slightly, making Kazuichi wince. That was a low blow, but he guessed a deserved one.

With all the talk about the similarities and differences between Kazuichi and his past self, the younger version turned his attention towards his older self and his eyes were filled with interest. “Say, so you are me in a few years, right?” he asked carefully, making Kazuichi nod.

“Seems like it, I guess.”

“Then can ya tell me something about you?” the kid asked hopefully, “I mean you look so different and cool! And you said that you were the Ultimate Mechanic? As in an Hope's Peak Academy Ultimate Student?” The more he talked, the more his eyes began to sparkle with childlike excitement.

The way his younger self was looking at him with admiration made Kazuichi feel a bit prideful about himself. He might not have changed his looks because he specifically wanted it, but it still felt good to see that his more innocent and not-quite-as-fucked-up-from-the-world-yet version seemed to like what would become of him. Grinning with pride, he gave the kid a thumbs up, “Yeah, I'm the Ultimate Mechanic and everyone here are Ultimate Students as well.”

Hearing this made the kid look at everyone with wonder and awe as his eyes scanned the room of older students, all talking with each other about all kinds of topics. He then looked back at the people sharing the table with him and his eyes went to Gundham who was sitting across from him, right next to the older Kazuichi. “So you as well.. Tanaka, was it?” he asked Gundham. “Also, are you two friends? You seem really close.” During the last part his voice got a tiny bit suspicious, making the older Kazuichi almost choke on his food at which Gundham quickly patted his back in worry.

“Y-Yeah!” Kazuichi quickly said when he cleared his throat enough, before anyone else could say anything, “H-He's a great friend! He's one of my best friends in fact, and he's the Ultimate Breeder.” he blurred out, making everyone look at them, but no one commented to Kazuichi's relieve. Because if this kid really was him with 14, then Kazuichi knew that the news of him being in a relationship with another man and being gay might give the kid the shock of his life, since in this age he had been so deep in the closet and just thinking about finding a guy cute used to scare him to death from all the bullying he suffered through and made him hate himself to the point of him trying to prove to everyone and himself that he was into girls – He still felt awful for pressuring Sonia when first getting to the island... “Do ya have any other questions?” he then tried to move the topic on in the hope that the kid would drop it.

Sadly Kazuichi was never one to be lucky and so the kid instead asked, “Do ya have a girlfriend? And is she sexy?”

Kazuichi wasn't sure if he was cringing internally because of the quite embarrassingly phrased question that only a 14 year old could ask with a straight face or the reminder that he used to talk like this. However he simply smiled bashfully as he tried to tiptoe around the question, “Ehm, yeah I'm dating someone and yeah, I think that they're very sexy.” No question that he found Gundham sexy and straight up mouthwatering. How could he not? Gundham was as handsome as can be, had the sweetest smile ever and he could lift Kazuichi with only one arm with the greatest of ease. Just looking at him was enough to make Kazuichi swoon. The way Gundham was currently trying to hide his blush behind his scarf was also beyond cute and he wanted nothing more than to kiss him right now. Though he ignored that impulse due to the squealing kid sitting in front of him, who was completely oblivious about the truth.

“Who is she?” the kid then asked with excitement, “Is she on this island?” he looked around at all the girls, who all avoided eye contact to not be pulled into this discussion.

Kazuichi however was unsure how to answer this question. He didn't exactly want to lie to himself – partly because he was awful at lying – and also didn't want to deny Gundham being his boyfriend outright, but he also wasn't sure how to answer this question without having to point at who it is.

Luckily Gundham came to his rescue in this moment and distracted the kid with another topic. “Young Mortal, have you beheld the inventions yet that have given the Tamer of Automations his title of Ultimate?” he asked him, knowing very well how quickly and easily Kazuichi could get distracted by machines, “They are truly a sight to behold.”

The bait worked and instantly the kid forgot his initial question to instead almost jump in his seat with curiosity. “You have your own inventions here?” he asked his older self, “Can I please see them?”

“Ya know what?” Kazuichi replied with his usual cheerful grin, being more than relieved that the former topic was over and forgotten, “You can even examine them. I got everything, including my tools, in my cottage.” Since Kazuichi was taking all kinds of appliances and engines apart and put them back together ever since he could walk and build his first full engine with 9 he had no worry that this kid would break anything, and it would distract him hopefully for a while until he could send him to bed or something.

“Really? Thank you so much!” the kid's eyes were positively shining and Kazuichi himself found it quite cute, which either was a bit arrogant to call himself cute or it was just him liking kids in general.

“No problem.” Kazuichi continued grinning at him, “Let's just finish our food and then ya can look at everything.”

Which childlike enthusiasm the kid then quickly finished his food so that he could look at all the inventions waiting in the mechanic's cottage.

After everyone had finished their food, all of the students split up for the rest of the evening. Some went to their own cottages, some wanted to see if they could figure out how the younger Kazuichi came to the island and how to safely send him back, and some simply went somewhere on the many tiny islands to hang out with their friends. Both Kazuichis however went to his cottage as promised, together with Gundham.

Upon unlocking the door and letting them all inside, the younger Kazuichi's eyes instantly widened at the sight of all the machines that were stored within the main room, all in various stages of completion. “Did you make all of them?” he asked in awe as he looked at a tiny robot that Kazuichi had build some time ago.

“Yep.” Kazuichi stated proudly, “You can look at everything if ya want, so knock yourself out. I just have to talk with Gu- Tanaka for a second.”

Since the kid was distracted from all the machines in the room and only nodded while looking at everything, Kazuichi quickly left the cottage together with Gundham, who seemed slightly confused what the other wanted to talk about with him. Before he could ask, Kazuichi then quickly said, “I'm sorry for about earlier that I didn't tell him that we're dating.” He felt bad about it and feared that Gundham might think that he's embarrassed or something about them dating. “It's just that at this age I was always heavily bullied and called faggot more than once by others, and I didn't want to shock the kid with just dumping on him that I'm dating you, thus another guy.” he rambled out excuses, even if he knew that it wouldn't make his behaviour sound nicer. But hopefully it would make it sound more plausible at least.

“Kazuichi, I do not mind, so do not feel worry.” Gundham simply stated and cut the other's rambling off. To Kazuichi's surprise Gundham even seemed confused as if he didn't know why the other felt the need to excuse himself. “If you might have forgotten over the time where we have been residing within this realm, shall I need to remind you that you have not been open about your sexuality not that long ago? So it was easy to assume that when you have been even younger that you were also not open about these kind of informations about yourself or might not have been aware of it yet. As such I do not expect you to just simply offload such a sensitive information onto your youngest form.” he stated matter of factly. “And to calm your worried mind, I am neither unsure about how you view our relationship, nor do I expect that you open up to every mortal that you meet as this topic can be one bringing along backlash from the more foolish mortals.”

Kazuichi looked up at his boyfriend. “So you do not mind if we keep quiet about us until the kid's gone again?”

“I do not, so do not worry my paramour.” Gundham reassured him with a small smile.

Kazuichi couldn't help but smile in return. “Thank you Gundham. You're the best.” He just couldn't help himself in this moment, so he leaned up towards his boyfriend to give him a small kiss, which Gundham returned softly as he gently placed his hand on his boyfriend's cheek.

However right in that moment the door of the cottage opened as the younger version of Kazuichi wanted to ask his older self a question, only to see him kiss another man.

Quickly the couple broke apart, however it was too late and the young teen stared at them with an almost horrified facial expression. “W-What...why are you..I...” he rambled out in quick suggestion as he tried to form words, to then finally scream in shock and quickly run back into the cottage while slamming the door shut behind himself.

“Shit.” Kazuichi groaned, “And this is why I didn't wanted to tell him.” Or at least tell him more gently instead of being seen kissing his boyfriend, since he knew that something like this would happen.

“We should check upon your youngest form, as I do believe that he might be suffering from his curse of anxiety as you yourself often do.” Gundham said with worry for the kid, making Kazuichi nod and the two carefully went into the cottage.

The young teen was sitting on the bed and nervously fiddling with his fingers and rubbing his hands, which was a nervous habit Kazuichi had ever since he was a kid and didn't have anything to occupy his hands with. Grabbing into his pocket he pulled out a little stimulation toy out of his pocket, which he always carried with him for cases where his anxiety got the better of him, and gave it to the kid to knead. He then took a seat next to him on the bed, together with Gundham.

Having something to do with his hands already began to calm the young teen again, which Kazuichi was expecting as after many years of having anxiety he of course knew best how to handle the attacks.

“So you're... we're into boys?” the kid asked very carefully, while his eyes were fixated on the toy in his hands.

“Yep, we're gay.” Kazuichi told him. “Though if I'm remembering correctly, you should know that on your own.” It might have been a few years ago, however he was sure that he had already been aware about it at that age considering that he had his first crush on a boy at that age and often found himself attracted to guy in movies instead of the girls that were shown. He was just very much in denial about it as a young teen.

The kid didn't reply to the question, showing that Kazuichi's memory was right. However he then instead asked, “And Tanaka is your boyfriend?” he then asked and carefully looked at the young man.

“Yes, he is.” Kazuichi replied, “And before ya ask, yes I love him very much and I am happy being together with him.”

“But what about all the others here?” the kid turned to his older counterpart in genuine fear, “Don't they hate you for it?”

This time it was Gundham who replied, “It was not that long ago that the Tamer of Automations has asked the same question, as just like you he had been feeling fear of the reactions from the other mortals.” he explained carefully, “It may be true that some foolish fiends may have hostile reactions to us, however the mortals here are not like this so do not worry.”

“Gundham's right.” Kazuichi said, “Many on his island aren't straight either for a start and the ones that are, are all super supportive. All these dicks who bullied us aren't in our life any more, so don't worry.” However this didn't seem to fully reassure the kid to hear due to all the bullying having deeply traumatised him, which Kazuichi could understand. So he tried a different approach. “Look, I know exactly what you are feeling right now, because believe me I experienced all the same fear and embarrassment. So much that I tried so hard to show everyone that I could be straight and like girls, which however only made me even more miserable. More than the bullying from these idiots did in the past. But now that I have supporting friends who aren't some fake shits who will stab you in the back at the first given chance and I also have Gundham in my life I feel so much more happy about life.” he gently placed his hand on the kid's shoulder, “So what I'm trying to say is that yeah some people will be dicks, but they will use any reason they can find to be dicks, but I don't care about them any more because I'm happy with the way I am now.” He had enough of pretending to be someone he isn't, just because people enjoyed making him miserable.

For a moment the kid was silent as the thought about what his older counterpart has said, before he gave a tiny, shy smile. “You really are cool.”

Hearing this and knowing that he was able to reassure his younger self, made Kazuichi grin with pride, “We both really are!”

The young teen then turned back towards the couple, “I'm sorry for screaming at ya earlier. It wasn't nice.”

“Don't worry, you were surprised so these things happen.” Kazuichi waved him off, since it really wasn't anything to be sorry for in his mind.

“The Sharp Toothed One is correct, you did nothing that would call for an apology. We are simply relieved that you have been able to calm your troubled mind.” Gundham smiled softly at the young teen, making Kazuichi feel as if his heart was melting. He really loved to see Gundham smile like this.

However then he noticed that his younger version's face suddenly turned red and that he awkwardly turned his eyes to the side. Seeing this made Kazuichi groan internally, because he knew exactly this kind of behaviour of his. So please don't tell him that his version with 14 already developed a stupid schoolboy crush on Gundham. He feared very much that this was the case.

Before Gundham could notice the teen's puppy love, Kazuichi quickly took over the word. “Anyway, now that we have this settled, how about we all hit the sack for the night? It's getting late and after all the stress today I'm getting tired.”

“I do agree that it would be wise to rest for the night, as everyone residing within this realm has to fulfil their duties on the following morning for which we will need our full powers.” Gundham nodded and then stood up from the bed, “Then I wish the two of you a good rest.” He then gave his boyfriend a soft kiss, before patting the younger counterpart gently on his head. With a final goodnight to them, he then left the cottage for his own, while both Kazuichi's watched him go.

The young teen sat awkwardly on the spot for a moment as he fumbled with the toy from before. “Say... when am I going to meet him?” he asked with a blushing face, making Kazuichi want to slap himself in the face from second-hand embarrassment at that awkward display of a schoolboy crush.

“In Hope's Peak, now go to bed please.”

***

The 14 year old version of Kazuichi stayed on the island for a few more days where Usami tried to figure a way out to send him back home. While everything was as calm and perfect as always, Kazuichi himself felt like dying of embarrassment, because his younger counterpart was super obvious about his schoolboy crush on Gundham, that even many of the other students began to notice how the kid was often awkwardly staring at the young adult and always followed him and tried to gain his attention and get praise from him. It was just embarrassing to watch, even more for Kazuichi himself since this kid was him after all, and that his friends liked to tease him about it didn't help. Luckily however it seemed as if Gundham himself didn't notice the puppy love from the young teen, despite spending every day with both Kazuichis.

After almost a week had passed, Usami then finally announced that she found a way to send the young boy back to his own time without him having any memories about what happened so that no damage would be done. Since everyone on the island had grown to like the young boy, the students all decided to hold a farewell party for him before he would go back to his own time. They had gathered at the same beach where Kazuichi and Gundham had first summoned the young teen, and where another spell circle was drawn out for the teen to be send back home again after the party.

Hanamura had outdone himself with the food, many of the girls had banded together to bake a cake for them all, and Mioda and Saionji worked together to do a little show for them all. It was a blast for everyone, including the young version of Kazuichi who never had friends in his life who would do something like this for him.

However slowly the day came to an end and the young teen had to follow Usami so that he could go back home. Everyone said their final goodbye to the young teen and wished him good luck, promising that they would meet again in a few years.

Usami then held out her tiny paw for the kid to take, so that they could leave. However before he took it, he quickly turned around and hugged Gundham, much to the breeder's surprise, before quickly running off towards the spell circle with a blushing face and shy, yet happy smile, while Usami followed to send him back home.

With a final wave and a big smile from the teen, the spell circle then began lighting up until the light fully overtook the young boy and shortly after began dimming while every trace of the young teen had vanished now that he was back home.

Only Usami remained right next to the spell circle in which the young teen had just been standing, before she went to check up on the older version to make sure that none of hie memories had changed just in case, which they luckily didn't. He could not remember any of the things that had happened from the perspective of his younger self, meaning everything seemed to have worked just as it should.

With this all the students slowly went their ways, some with heavy hearts that the young boy had forgotten them all and some with smiles knowing that one day the young boy would meet them all anew and that they could become friends once more.

In the end only Kazuichi and Gundham remained at the beach, looking at nothing in particular as they stood next to each other.

“Well, that is the last time I'm going to join you with your occult stuff.” Kazuichi said as half of a joke, “No matter how much I love you, this was a trip I don't really wanna do again.”

“I do understand. As pleasant it was to see a side of you that I had yet to witness, I also do not wish to repeat this faulty dark art again.” Gundham agreed and placed his arm around his boyfriend's waist, who in return leaned against him. “Though I must admit to one thing.” he then said, making Kazuichi look up at him in interest.

“And that is?”

“While I did not share the same sentiment, it did fill me with some form of pride to know that you are enamoured with me at any stage of life.” Gundham then said in a teasing voice, making Kazuichi groan.

“Oh god, so ya did notice it!” Damn that was embarrassing. He then sighed, “But ya know, from all the stupid schoolboy crushes I had you are by far the best one.”

“I will take that as a compliment.” Gundham replied with amusement and kissed his boyfriend's hair, as they looked at the starry sky together in comfortable silence.

Kazuichi had struggled at lot in the past to reach this point. However now that he was here, he was truly happy and content with who he was and how his life had become, now that he had great friends in his life and a wonderful boyfriend who he loved with all of his heart and who loved him back. He loved his current life just as it was and he didn't want to change anything about it.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to do this fic for ages now and since one of the chosen prompts was time travel I decided to finally write it  
> This fic is very loosely based on a doujinshi I saw ages ago where middle school Kazuichi ended up on the island. Since the doujinshi was only a preview of a few random pages and in Japanese, which I can't read, I have no clue what exactly is happening in there, so similarities are only very small (as far as I can guess) Sadly I don't have the link to the preview I based this off from since it was years ago that I saw it. [However I did find some official pictures of Kazuichi as a kid and I find him so cute ♥](https://imgur.com/a/MTClYqk) That little smile of his is to die for ♥


End file.
